Tell the Truth

I am reading a great book--highly recommendable--entitled Tell the Truth (subtitled: "The Whole Gospel to the Whole Person by Whole People") by Will Metzger. In his chapter, How to Communicate Personally, he quotes these lyrics at the end of the book:

O Breath of Life, come sweeping through us,

Revive Thy Church with life and power;

O Breath of Life, come, cleanse, renew us,

And fit Thy Church to meet this hour.

O Wind of God, come bend us, break us,

Till humbly we confess our need;

Then in Thy tenderness remake us,

Revive, restore; for this we plead.

O Breath of Love, come breathe within us,

Renewing thought and will and heart:

Come, Love of Christ, afresh to win us,

Revive Thy Church in every part.

Revive us, Lord! Is zeal abating

While harvest fields are vast and white?

Revive us, Lord, the world is waiting,

Equip Thy Church to spread the light.

Lyrics by Bessie Porter Head, titled "O Breath of Life," 1914.

Good Luck or God Reigns?

How lucky are you? Do you even believe in luck? How many times a day do you think, hear, or say something involving luck or good fortune?

In the book of Ruth, we find a handful of theologically profound and practically rich themes:

1. The Sovereignty/Providence of God

2. Kindness in the Community of the Redeemed

3. Redemption that Looks forward to Christ

4. Salvation for Gentile Believers Only Through the God of Israel

5. Preserving the Royal Blood Line for the Messiah

The writer of Ruth uses certain terms, careful words, in Ruth 2:3 to show the hand of the LORD in the events of the historical narrative ("everyday life" for the people in the story of Ruth). This narrative really helps us understand the theme of the Providence of God better. To get first things first, chapter 1 highlights that the story was not heading in the best direction (death, bereavement, loss, famine, moral decline in leadership, no rest, no security, bitterness, etc.), or so it seemed. Ruth goes to work in the fields and "she happened to come to the part of the field belonging to Boaz," her close relative and kinsmen redeemer (2:1, 20; 3:9, 12; 4:4, 9, 10). This was not to her knowledge at all, but it was surely in God's! So I ask you, do we call this luck? Did Ruth stumble across Boaz's path "as chance would have it?" At this point it would be helpful to include a helpful and concise definition of God's Providence:

One definition: “God’s providence is His constant care for and His absolute rule over all His creation for His own glory and the good of His people.” As used in Trusting God, by Jerry Bridges.

One challenge: When you find yourself thinking or saying to someone else, "Good Luck," or "Take Luck" (if you are a Bryan Reagan fanatic;), consider for a moment the sovereignty of God and His providential rule and care over all His creation. Could you possibly insert "God Reigns" in your thoughts or speech, rather than attributing something positive to the lesser deity of "Luck"?

One example: When someone tells you, "Good luck on your exam today!" You might think to yourself, "Well, God reigns. Either way, if I fail it, ace it, get an average grade, brake my leg on the way to the test, the test is postponed, different material is on the test than you covered, etc. God Reigns! He is in absolute control. He constantly cares for you. He has His purposes in mind, so trust Him."

One caveat: Obviously we have a responsibility to "work out [not for] our salvation with fear and trembling" (Phil 2:12) before the Sovereign Lord. We are not to put the LORD our God to the test (Deut 6:16) or take His grace for granted (Rom 6:1).

Fall 2009 College Ministry Schedule

ROCK Group Fall 2009

A College Ministry of VBC

September

4^th ROCK Group

5^th “Hangtime” Begins

11^th CORE Group Meeting

ROCK Group

18^th Leaders Meeting

ROCK Group

19^th “Closer” (all Growth Group Event at VBC)

25^th CORE Group Meeting

ROCK Group

26^th “GO” to Santa Monica Day (Sat)

27^th ROCK Group Luncheon After Church

October

2^nd-3^rd “Creation Weekend”

9^th CORE Group Meeting

ROCK Group

16^th Leaders Meeting

ROCK Group

17^th Pumpkin Pickin’ at Lombardi Ranch (Sat)

23^rd-25^th WOMEN’S RETREAT

23^rd Guys’ Night

25^th ROCK Group Luncheon After Church

30^th ROCK Group

31^st Trunk ‘R Treat at VBC (Sat)

November

6^th CORE Group Meeting

ROCK Group

13^th ROCK Group

20^th Leaders Meeting

ROCK Group

26^th Turkey Bowl (Thanksgiving Day)

27^th ROCK Group

29^th ROCK Group Luncheon After Church

December

4^th CORE Group Meeting

ROCK Group

11^th Leaders Meeting

ROCK Group

12^th ROCKn’ SnL Christmas Party (Sat)

18^th ROCK Group

22^nd and 24^th Park Days

25^th Christmas (No ROCK Group)

27^th ROCK Group Luncheon After Church

31^st-3^rd WINTER RETREAT

-“ROCK Group” is our weekly Bible study Friday nights @ 7pm @ the Moes’ house (722-1844).

-“CORE Group” is at Kyle and Kathy Jenisons’.

-“Hangtime” is at the Baloghs’ (947-9748) every Saturday night at 8pm during the school year.

Missions All Around

Sometimes the Lord orders certain events, conversations, and occurrences in our lives to teach us a lesson. I've heard them before referred to as "teachable moments." I personally got used to thinking of them as "Divine Appointments"--alarmingly clear instances where God in His sovereignty appoints something to happen at a particularly impactive or significant time your life that really grabs your attention. In these moments, when we see (by faith;) the hand of God sewing one thread after another in and through our lives, we must not write it off as merely circumstance or luck. Take some time to reflect on what God is showing you. Here is what I have been reflecting on recently...

1. In a recent Staff Meeting at church, we had the Summer Interns join us. They gave a report of their summer internships and were asked a particular question: Where do you see yourself in future ministry to Christ in His church? Oddly, each one of our interns shared their respective passion for the lost to come to Christ, namely those unreached by the gospel.

2. In my subsequent one-on-one discipleship time with Dale, he followed up the morning's staff meeting by asking me what I thought about the interns' comments. For nearly 2 hours, Dale and I talked about Missions and what we'd like to see done for Christ in this dark and Godless world. It was quite possibly one of the most uplifting conversations I've had in some time.

3. The night of these conversations, one of our college students came to our door wanting to talk further with Kathy about Missions and her future plans. They talked of the great possibilities to serve Christ globally and locally.

4. Only days later, I was having lunch with my cousins. They grew up in a wonderful family devoted to Christ's cause. They spent most of their younger childhood in Indonesia translating the Bible into an unknown language in the jungle village of Obogui. Their family returned to the States after they had close encounters with malaria and desired US schooling. Now they live and serve in the Antelope Valley. We spent almost our entire lunch talking about what a return trip to the tribe in Obogui would look like if we were to go back.

5. When I returned home, I received my monthly issue of The Voice of the Martyrs magazine in which our brothers and sisters in Christ who suffer death and persecution tell their stories of what the Lord is doing in China and other hurting countries.

6. I was so moved by some of the stories in the magazine that I used some ladies' testimonies of faith to intro our ROCK group Bible study. We were just beginning the section in Mark about suffering on Christ's behalf and the gospel (8:34–38). It was a blessed time in the Word that evening as we all were challenged in our faith.

7. The next day, Kathy and I decided to go to the beach to spend some time together. Sure enough, after walking up the coast we ran into a young man and his friend that we knew from Master's. We stopped and talked for about an hour. And what do you know, he was sharing his testimony about his heart for China and how he is going to seminary (Master's) in order to be trained and to return to the mission field. Now he is in my Greek class.

8. Upon returning home, I had a great talk with my good friend. And what does he want to talk about other than a good friend of his who is serving the church in Africa! He shared stories, pictures (thank you FB!), and desires to see Christ's church strengthened and the lost reached in such difficult fields of ministry.

9. I met a new guy to our college ministry on Sunday evening at softball and one of the first topics that was brought up as I was trying to get to know him was that he was planning on going back to Taiwan for another short-term missions trip. At this point, I had to tell this young man of all the things that were recently happening that seemed to be pointing to the topic of missions. We had a great conversation, as we watched our college teams hammer some other teams:)

So I pause in weeks like these...What do I do? How do I respond? Answer: the same thing I have always been trying to do--serve, proclaim and glory in Christ Jesus with all my heart and might and see where He leads and guides His church. I pray that God leads and guides Valley into the lives of the lost on a daily basis and that we cultivate a missional mindset about ministry in this culture and the next (see Acts 1:8).

Let us not forget the biblical evangelist/church planter, the Apostle Paul's, words in Romans 15:20 which say, "and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, lest I build on someone else's foundation."

Let's "Go!"

Psalm 1

(photo courtesy of mbaldwinfineart.blogspot.com)

Beginning the lengthy, poetic, majestic, practical, and theologically rich Old Testament book of Psalms, Psalm 1 opens with a powerful comparison of the righteous and the wicked. And wedged right between this comparison, we find one of the most beautiful and natural illustrations recorded in Scripture.

Let me ask you a simple question...Which one are you? 

Would you consider yourself righteous or wicked? What gives you the confidence that you know which one you are? What characterizes the heart of the righteous and what lies at the core of the wicked person's heart? Let's find out.

In verses 1 and 2, we find characteristics of the righteous person. We see where not to walk, stand nor sit--among the sinful, scoffing wicked. We see what must be our delight and meditation--the Law of the Lord.

1. The Righteous person is blessed because they...

a. Do not walk in the counsel of the wicked;

b. Do not stand in the way of sinners;

c. Do not sit in the seat of scoffers;

d. Delight in the law of the Lord;

e. Meditate on His law day and night.

In verses 3 and 4, we find the portrait of the lively, flourishing, nourished righteous person and we find the dead, useless, insignificant wicked person.

2. The Righteous person is like a tree which...

a. Is planted by streams of water;

b. Yields its fruit in its season;

c. Its leaf does not wither;

d. Prospers in all that he does.

3. The Wicked person is like chaff which...

a. Is not like the tree, meaning...

i. [not planted by streams of water]

ii. [not yielding fruit in its season]

iii. [all the leaves wither]

iv. [does not prosper in what it does]

b. The wind blows away.

In verses 5 and 6, we find the characteristics of the wicked person. A dead, useless, and perishing tree cannot stand and will not stand. This is the condition of the wicked.

4. The wicked will...

a. Not stand in the judgment;

  b. Not stand in the congregation of the righteous;

c. Not be known by the Lord;

d. Perish.

Also see Jeremiah 17:7–8 for a remarkably similar illustration including a tree planted by streams of water. We draw our life from God. We must delight in His Word. We must meditate on it day and night, as the streams of water never fail providing the tree with life-giving nutrients.

So let me ask you again, what is your life characterized by? Where are your thoughts? Where are your desires? What is your attitude and behavior like? What is your delight? What fills your mind?

ROCK Group Summer Calendar

(Ancient calendar found at Gezar, a biblically and historically significant location in the Land of Israel)

May

29^th      ROCK Group (Cody)

30^th      Softball and BBQ @ Moes @ 9am (Sat)

Welcome all College Freshmen!

June

5^th        CORE Group @ 3pm

             ROCK Group (Kyle)

9^th        Intro Teaching Class @ 7pm (Tues)

12^th      CORE Group @ 3pm

             ROCK Group (Kyle)

13^th      Beach Day @ 8am (Sat)

16^th      Intro Teaching Class @ 7pm (Tues)

17^th      Wakeboard Trip (Thurs)

19^th      Coffee Connection / Guys Nite @ 7pm

21^st      Soccer Camp Mtg @ VBC @ 7am (Sun)

26^th      ROCK Group (Kyle)

30^th–3^rd Soccer Camp

July

3^rd        ROCK Group (Bobby)

4^th        Fourth of July Beach Party @ 9am (Sat)

10^th      ROCK Group (Nate)

11^th      CORE Group Breakfast @ 8am

14^th      Intro Teaching Class @ 7pm

15^th–18^th ROCK SUMMER RETREAT

21^st      Intro Teaching Class @ 7pm (Tues)

23^rd      Wakeboard Trip (Thurs)

24^th      CORE Group @ 3pm

            ROCK Group (Rick)

28^th      Intro Teaching Class @ 7pm (Tues)

31^st      ROCK Group (Kyle)

August

1^st        Beach Day / Hollywood Bowl (Sat)

7^th–9^th  Man Camp

7^th        ROCK Group

11^th      Intro Teaching Class @ 7pm (Tues)

14^th      CORE Group @ 12pm

            Ignite Worship Night @ VBC @ 7pm

15^th      Activity Day (Sat)

21^st      ROCK Group (Nate)

28^th     CORE Group @ 3pm

           ROCK Group (Kyle)

-“ROCK Group” is our weekly Bible study Friday nights @ 7pm @ the Moes’ house (722-1844).

-Softball games are Sunday evenings followed by “The Pool” @ the Baloghs’ house (947-9748).

-“CORE Group” is at Kyle and Kathy Jenisons’.

-“Introductory Teaching Class” is at VBC on Tuesday nights.

-For more information call Kyle (886-9735).

Keeping Our Eye On Why VBC Plays Softball

Well, softball season at Valley Bible is once again "stepping up to bat!" And the ROCK group is looking at 4 TEAMS this year! That's right...4. We have had 2 teams a while back, and then we had 3 teams for a little while, and now another team has emerged out of necessity. This is exciting growth to see because it is a testimony and reflection of God's faithfulness to the college ministry at VBC.

[why we play "soft"ball]

The first game this season will be held on May 31st at Lancaster City Park. There might actually be 20 teams in the church as a whole, so there will be a lot of games and injuries and fun every Sunday afternoon this summer. Not to mention the abundant opportunities to cultivate Christ-like relationships amongst one another and to establish contact with unbelievers in our community. Let us all remain biblically-aligned in our will, our focus, and our desires with the Diving design God has established for His church in this world.

Please be in prayer for the three objectives of the softball season: 1) service and the edification of the believers (see Scriptures below), 2) outreach and the salvation of the lost (see Scriptures below), and 3) golden softball and the glorification of the ROCK group (no biblical basis whatsoever!).

These TWO biblical objectives (service and outreach) are the "bat and ball," the "hand and glove", the "right and left cleat," the "home and away teams" to the softball season for the church; both are absolutely necessary! Let us not show up without one or the other.

Service and the Edification of Believers

First Corinthians 12:4–6 says, "Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone."

Romans 14:18, 19 say, "Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men. 19 So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding."

Ephesians 4:15, 16 says, "Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love."

Hebrews 10:25 says, "Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."

First Peter 3:8 says, "Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind."

Outreach and the Salvation of the Lost

Romans 10:17 says, "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."

Matthew 5:16 says, "In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven."

Mark 16:15 says, "And he said to them, 'Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.'"

Second Timothy 4:2, 5 say, "Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. 5 As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry."

Colossians 4:3–5 says, "At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account for which I am in prison--4 that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak. 5 Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the best use of the time."

Ok, Now Go Out and Play Ball!